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Britain's 30 submarine fires in past four years

There have been 266 fires on nuclear submarines since 1987 (Chris Bacon)

THE Ministry of Defence has admitted that there have been 30 fires on
Britain’s nuclear submarines over the past three years.

The figure equates to an average of one every 40 days, bringing the total
number of fires since 1987 to 266, more than 10 a year. The MoD also
admitted for the first time that 74 of the fires took place on submarines
often armed with nuclear warheads.

The admissions have prompted accusations that Britain’s nuclear weapons can no
longer be regarded as a “credible deterrent”.

The Scottish National Party’s Westminster leader and defence spokesman Angus
Robertson said: “Any one of these fires could have had catastrophic
consequences and the frequency of these incidents raises the most serious
safety concerns.

“We are not talking about a one-off incident, but a whole diary of
near-disasters. That so many of these incidents occurred on submarines that
may have been nuclear-armed is